Lou Henry Hoover

1874-1944

Biography: Admirably equipped to preside at the White House, Lou
Henry Hoover brought to it long experience as wife of a man eminent in public affairs
at home and abroad. She had shared his interests since they met in a
geology lab at Leland Stanford University. She was a freshman, he a
senior, and he was fascinated, as he declared later, "by her whimsical
mind, her blue eyes and a broad grinnish smile."

Born in Iowa, in 1874, she grew up there for ten years. Then her father,
Charles D. Henry, decided that the climate of southern California would
favor the health of his wife, Florence. He took his daughter on camping
trips in the hills--her greatest pleasures in her early teens. Lou
became a fine horsewoman; she hunted, and preserved specimens with the
skill of a taxidermist; she developed an enthusiasm for rocks, minerals,
and mining. She entered Stanford in 1894--"slim and supple as a reed," a
classmate recalled, with a "wealth of brown hair"--and completed her
course before marrying Herbert Hoover in 1899.

The newlyweds left at once for China, where he won quick recognition as a
mining engineer. His career took them about the globe--Ceylon, Burma,
Siberia, Australia, Egypt, Japan, Europe--while her talent for homemaking
eased their time in a dozen foreign lands. Two sons, Herbert and Allan,
were born during this adventurous life, which made their father a
youthful millionaire.

During World War I, while Hoover earned world fame administering
emergency relief programs, she was often with him but spent some time
with the boys in California. In 1919 she saw construction begin for a
long-planned home in Palo Alto. In 1921, however, his appointment as
Secretary of Commerce took the family to Washington. There she spent
eight years busy with the social duties of a Cabinet wife and an active
participation in the Girl Scout movement, including service as its president.

The Hoovers moved into the White House in 1929, and the First Lady
welcomed visitors with poise and dignity throughout the administration.
However, when the first day of 1933 dawned, Mr. and Mrs. Hoover were away
on holiday. Their absence ended the New Year's Day tradition of the
public being greeted personally by the President at a reception in the
Executive Mansion.

Mrs. Hoover paid with her own money the cost of reproducing furniture
owned by Monroe for a period sitting room in the White House. She also
restored Lincoln's study for her husband's use. She dressed handsomely;
she "never fitted more perfectly into the White House picture than in her
formal evening gown," remarked one secretary. The Hoovers entertained
elegantly, using their own private funds for social events while the
country suffered worsening economic depression.

In 1933 they retired to Palo Alto, but maintained an apartment in New
York. Mr. Hoover learned the full lavishness of his wife's charities
only after her death there on January 7, 1944; she had helped the
education, he said, "of a multitude of boys and girls." In retrospect he
stated her ideal for the position she had held: "a symbol of everything
wholesome in American life."